Prepping for Small Children

I haven’t updated this site as much lately because I recently became a father  to a beautiful baby boy. The last few weeks have been the most  wonderful-yet-stressful weeks of my life. Because I work from home I’ve been  able to put in less hours and help my wife with the baby, but now I need to get  back to working full time. Naturally, I’ve started thinking about prepping for  small children and infants, so in this post I’m going to talk about some things  I plan on doing to make sure my son is prepped.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of everything one should do to  prepare children for disasters. Rather, it’s just a few ideas and suggestions.  In the future, I’ll be making additional posts on the subject.

Food

This is pretty obvious, but I want to point out a couple of things. First, if  you’re breast feeding your infant, you still need to stock up on plenty of  formula. I know some people are against formula and that’s fine, but what if  something happens to mom? How are you going to feed your baby? The cheapest  option is to get cases of formula at Costco or Sam’s Club. Make sure the formula  has DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that is important for brain and eye development.  Another option is to make your own baby formula.

Second, if your child is older, make sure you have plenty of variety in your  food supplies. I’ve mentioned the dangers of appetite fatigue before, but with  children it’s an even greater danger. Just having some snacks and candy isn’t  enough. You need no less than seven types of meals—one for each day of the  week—and plenty of seasonings so you can vary the flavors of your meals.

Clothes

You might already have a year’s supply of food for your child, but do you  have a year’s supply of clothes? Kids grow fast (or so I’m told), so make sure  you’re at least a year ahead. I know this can be expensive, but if you check out  Goodwill stores and yard  sales on a regular basis you’ll come across some great deals. Yes, some of these  clothes won’t be all that great looking, but kids always get their clothes  dirty, anyway. And the younger ones won’t remember if you dress them up like  Waldo. Another thought: Get some belts for your child so he/she can start  wearing pants that are still a little too big.

Diapers

This can be a problem because a year’s worth of diapers would take up a LOT  of space. I suggest you get as much you can reasonably store. Beyond that, you  should get some cloth diapers. I know these are a hassle to clean, but if you have a good  source of clean water (such as a well or a nearby stream) and plenty of  detergent, they’re definitely worth it. Cloth diapers are expensive, but in the  long run you’ll save hundreds of dollars because they’re reusable. You also  won’t have to bury trash bags full of dirty diapers every week.

Emergency Kits

I was surprised to find that most survival stores don’t  offer survival kits for children. I finally found one from 1-800-Prepare called  My First Emergency Kit (seen on the right). It comes  with a port a potty, solar blanket, food, water, diapers, crayons, coloring  book, etc. If you’d rather put together a kit yourself, I suggest you check out  the link anyway because there’s a great list of what to include.

As I write this, I’m thinking of all sorts of other things one might need:  special cleaning supplies, children’s medication, toys and games that don’t  require power and other random items, but I’ll save all that for another post.  This post is just to help me and any other new parents start thinking about  prepping for small children.

If you’re an experienced parent, I’d be very grateful for any suggestions you  might have. Please post them in the comments section below.

BioPrepper

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